20 ways to boost your health

Prevention & Recovery

20 ways to boost your health

Good health is built one step at a time. The small changes you make today will reward you in the future. Give these helpful tips, from quick stress busters to long-term pain solutions, a try.

1. Keep up your motivation at work by making a reverse to-do list. Instead of writing down everything you wish to accomplish today – which can leave you feeling overwhelmed – make a list of things you have already accomplished.

2. Spice up your meals. Turmeric, a staple in Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines, is an antioxidant superfood that can help prevent diabetes, ease arthritis and ward off tumours.

4. Shrug your shoulders. You'll be strengthening your trapezius muscles, which run from your shoulders to your neck and upper back, and reducing chronic neck pain by up to 80 percent.

5. Banish a chill by recalling a nostalgic memory. Scientists from the University of Southampton in the U.K. have discovered that such memories have a warming effect on the body.

6. Your mom was right. Stand up straight; don't slouch. Good posture protects your joints and lessens the risk of muscle aches. It also allows for better breathing by giving your lungs more room to expand and contract.

8. Increase your nutrition knowledge with Fooducate, a popular free app. Use it to scan the bar code of a food item. It responds with a grade of A, B, C or D, based on the product's nutrition, fat and caloric density.

9. The ideal bedtime snack might surprise you: kiwifruit. It has a high level of serotonin, a neurotransmitter linked to sleep and mood. A study at Taipei Medical University found that eating two kiwifruits before hitting the hay helped participants fall asleep 35 percent faster.

10. Here are two new reasons to get your vitamin C: A daily 500-milligram dose lowers your heart rate and reduces fatigue during exercise, according to research conducted by the University of Wisconsin.

11.Have a laugh. It increases blood flow by 21 percent, says a study from the University of Texas at Austin.

12. Ease lower-back pain with a simple acupressure technique. Use your fingers to apply pressure behind one of your knees, at the crease. Start with light pressure, then increase for maximum relief.

13. Cool headache pain by applying an ice pack to the aching area every few hours. This helps soothe the inflamed nerves and muscles that are sometimes at the root of discomfort. 14. A daily dose of yogurt (about 60 millilitres) may protect you from gum disease, says a recent study in the Journal of Periodontology. The good bacteria in yogurt combat germs in the mouth.

16. I wanna hold your hand. Because it feels good and it's good for your health. Research published by the American Psychosomatic Society discovered that holding your partner's hand for a few minutes cuts stress by 200 percent.

17. Go green with your exercise routine. Take in fresh air from the great outdoors to enhance your mood and self-esteem. One study found that being active near water, such as a lake or river, amps up those emotional benefits.

18. Adopt a fresh perspective on life with mint. Sniffing the herb combats fatigue and lifts your mood. Keep a bottle of peppermint oil in your desk drawer or sip mint tea to reap its aromatherapy benefits.

19. Say "om" (or nothing at all) and have a 10-minute meditation session. Visualize something soothing, such as a beautiful green forest or Hawaiian sunset. Meditation helps calm the mind and put the brakes on a frenetic day.

20. Ward off foot problems with simple stretches. Use a rolled-up towel to pull up your toes, stretching the underside of each foot and counting to 10. Or freeze a golf ball, then roll it front to back under each foot for 15 seconds to massage the fascia, the fibrous layer that surrounds the muscles.

This story was originally titled "20 Instant Health Boosters" in the May 2013 issue.

Culture & Entertainment

Winning gift idea: Subscription boxes for everyone on your list

Culture & Entertainment

Winning gift idea: Subscription boxes for everyone on your list

Whether you're on the hunt for a thoughtful gift that's sure to impress or simply a gift that can be delivered, your answer is easy: Go for subscription boxes.

They're trending hard in the gift department. So, what are subscription boxes exactly? Basically, there's a company out there (yes—in Canada, too!) that will bundle up specific things you're interested in and deliver them in a package right to your door. No matter what your thing is—beauty, sweets, wine, more wine—there's a subscription box for you.

Think about the people on your list and narrow down what makes them tick. Beauty buff? Get her a subscription to GLOSSYBOX. Goop-enthusiast? Mama Earth Organics. Coffee Lover? The Roasters Pack. Sweet tooth victim? Bakers Krate.

Treat your mom to Oh Mother's boxes, which will deliver pampering products to ensure she gets a little "me" time. For your daughter, Ellebox will help her get through that gloomy time of month, for the bookworm, Owl Box offers new young adult books and fun extras, and for the relative who's going through a difficult time, Caring Crate will help keep their spirit up.

And there's still plenty more subscription boxes to choose from.

Flip through the slideshow to find out some of the best boxes available to Canadians and learn about what each one has to offer.

Winning gift idea: Subscription boxes for everyone on your list

For the Gwyneth in the group

Perfect for the Gwyneth-type—the one who juggles it all and is devoted to healthy, organic goods—will go crazy for this monthly subscription service. Mama Earth Organics offers healthy foods and fresh produce from local organic farms and will deliver right to her door.

Winning gift idea: Subscription boxes for everyone on your list

For the one who can't come home for the holidays

Ensure your friend who's out-of-the-country doesn't get too homesick this holiday season with Expack's Canada box. It boasts classic Canadian treats—like ketchup chips, Coffee Crisps, and Flakies—that are beloved by everyone north of the border.

Winning gift idea: Subscription boxes for everyone on your list

For the one with the sweet tooth

She'll probably be equally happy and mad at this gift: Bakers Krate delivers locally-sourced freshly baked goods (including cookies, brownies, and cupcakes), made by Canadian artisans, right to her front door.

Winning gift idea: Subscription boxes for everyone on your list

For the beauty buff

Help your beauty-loving bestie stay in-the-know with the classic, latest and greatest beauty finds with GLOSSYBOX. It brings makeup, hair, and skincare products to consumers’ doorsteps around the globe.

Culture & Entertainment

Nelly Furtado helps us be a little greener

Culture & Entertainment

Nelly Furtado helps us be a little greener

The singer-songwriter and philanthropist comes clean on her ten-year job as a housekeeper, why she finds cleaning therapeutic, when she taught her daughter to do laundry and why she has teamed up with Tide purclean to launch its new eco-friendly detergent.

Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado grew up in the family business—the cleaning business. “I come from a housekeeping background. My mom ran a laundry and cleaning company, and from a young age, I would go along with her to help out on odd jobs,” says Furtado. For the Grammy-award winner, lending a hand with the housekeeping turned into her first decade-long job. “I was a professional housekeeper at a hotel for 10 years in Vancouver,” says Furtado.

So, when Tide approached Furtado to help launch purclean—their first bio-based detergent (65% of the ingredients are made using renewable energy sources, such as plants)—the decision was an easy one. This more eco-friendly option is also hypoallergenic, free of dyes, chlorine and phosphates, and is produced in an environmentally-friendly manufacturing site.

Along with using a more sustainable detergent, Furtado limits the amount of loads she does per week and uses energy-saving cold water. “Every little bit counts: I drive a hybrid car so I only have to fill up on gas once a month. I make my own cleaning products with vinegar and water. When I’m spring cleaning or moving, I donate everything from faucets and cabinets to furniture to Habitat for Humanity so they can reuse them instead of putting them in a landfill,” says Furtado.

Furtado taught her daughter, Nevis, who is now 13-years-old, how to do laundry when she was 10-years-old. “At the time, she was saving up to buy an iPad, so Furtado gave her a list of chores to do, including laundry, to save enough money for the big purchase. “I felt I was teaching her a really valuable skill that she’ll use into adulthood, but she already mastered it at a young age. She’s really good at folding, too,” says Furtado.

Along with raising a teenage daughter and managing a successful music career (she has sold 16 million albums), she is committed to her environmental and humanitarian philanthropic work. This year, she helped host We Day, an event that empowers kids to contribute to positive changes in their communities, as well as acknowledging many who do. She also remains very close to the organization, Free The Children—she has helped raise $1 million dollars for a new all-girls school in Narok in rural Kenya. This Christmas, Nelly will visit the girls at the school.

In March 2018, Furtado will release her seventh album, The Ride. Most of the songs were written outside the studio while doing other things, such as laundry or in a car ride in Kenya during one of her Free The Children missions.

These days, when she’s not travelling, Furtado continues to clean her own house as she finds it puts her in a meditative mood, giving her the opportunity to focus on her music. “It’s part of who I am,” says Furtado.